


Because Bureaucracy

by pinn



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5994007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinn/pseuds/pinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tom wakes up, his first thought is about coffee and his second is that he's not prepared for his meeting with Mike that morning. At no point during his rush to get out the door does Tom think about defrauding Citizenship Canada and yet somehow that winds up being the most noteworthy thing about his day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Because Bureaucracy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ellievolia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellievolia/gifts).



> This started off as a 'Proposal' AU but it would be pretty generous to call it that considering that the only thing it has in common with the movie is pretending to be engaged to keep a job and stay in the country. The immigration stuff is half-true, half-hand wave to move the plot along. Thanks to 7iris for the beta.

When Tom wakes up on the first Monday in July, his first thought is about coffee and his second is that he's not prepared for his meeting with Mike that morning. At no point during his rush to get out the door does Tom think about defrauding Citizenship Canada and yet somehow that winds up being the most noteworthy thing about his day.

He solves the coffee problem on his way to work but meeting prep takes way longer than it should. Tom and Mike are supposed to start storyboarding Ovie's newest game idea and Tom is dreading it. Not the working with Mike part, Mike and Tom have been best friends since they both started working at WC Games two years ago. Mike's one of the best programmers that Tom's ever met and working with him is always fun. 

Tom is definitely dreading designing this game though. As CEO, Ovie doesn't have time to get involved in the nitty-gritty of game development anymore. Instead he comes up with grand ideas for new games and lets his employees figure out the details. His latest idea includes hockey, vampires, and trolls. Tom's got no idea how they're going to incorporate any of that.

Fifteen minutes after they were supposed to meet, there's still no Mike. Tom weaves his way through cubicles until he gets to Mike's. He raps on the cubicle wall as he sticks his head around it. Mike's on the phone and he glances up at Tom and makes an apologetic expression before he turns his attention back to the phone.

"I understand that you can't look at my file or make specific recommendations," Mike says. "But I'm asking you a general question. What can my employer and I do considering that we've already done everything that was asked of us?" 

Sounds like Mike's talking to immigration again. This, Tom thinks, is what you get for being born in Canada to American parents who then give up your Canadian citizenship and move you all over the world. 

After a pause, Mike says, "I don't need an email from you. I need answers." There's another pause before Mike says, "Thank you for your assistance. I appreciate it."

Mike hangs up his phone and drops his head into his hands. "Fuck! Fuckity fuck fuck."

Tom clears his throat. "Hey."

Mike lifts his head and says, "Shit, we're supposed to be meeting right now. Sorry." He pushes his papers together into one stack and stands up. 

"We can do it later," Tom offers. "You seem a little stressed."

"No, now's fine. Might as well work on this while I still have a job."

"Shit, dude. What's going on?" Tom asks as he sits down in the spare chair that Mike keeps in his cubicle. 

"Fucking CIC is dicking me over." Mike sighs and sits back down. "When I moved back to Canada for university, I had a student visa and then I transferred onto a postgraduate work permit. When I got the job here, I got a true work permit. I'm working on getting permanent residency but in the meantime, I have to apply for a new work permit every year."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that CIC has changed how they do things and is requiring employers to use a new database to log all of their work offers to non-citizens." Mike points at the top sheet of paper on his stack and continues, "Naturally, the database sucks and it's taking forever for employer offers to get added. My permit expires next month and CIC has no record of an offer for me even though Braden put it in three weeks ago." 

Mike takes a deep breath and says, "Basically I can't work after next month and I'm going to lose my chance at permanent residency because I have to leave the country."

"Dude, I didn't know it was this bad," Tom says. "Can Braden do anything?"

"He's trying but helpful is not a word that CIC knows."

"Wow," Tom says as he leans back in his chair. "You can't even get married to a Canadian?"

"That's the best part," Mike says. "I could get married and then I could continue to work in good faith while CIC processes my application. Apparently I would be considered stable at that point."

"So you've got some options," Tom jokes. "Just find a single Canadian and marry them before your permit expires."

Mike laughs and says, "If you know any single dudes looking to get married to an American, just send them my way."

In retrospect, Tom probably should have laughed along with Mike and then changed the subject. Instead, he asks, "Uh, what if you and I got married?" 

Mike drops his pen and stares at Tom. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Tom says. He shifts around in his seat and tries to look serious. "André and I broke up a month ago, and I'm definitely Canadian."

"Why didn't I know about you and André?" Mike asks as he stands up and grabs his papers. "Also, no."

Tom doesn't have a good answer for Mike's first question so he acts like he didn't hear it. He says, "Mike, just think about it. Give me one reason why it wouldn't work."

Mike taps his fingers against his mouth and then says, "Here's a reason – it's fraud. I know that's a minor thing but it's kind of big deal to me."

"That's only if they find out," Tom points out. "I wouldn't tell."

Mike doesn't respond, he just walks out of his cubicle and Tom's left in there by himself. 

"This is your cubicle," Tom calls after Mike.

"Then be gone by the time I get back," Mike calls back. 

Tom scowls. It was a good idea, Mike didn't have to shit all over it.

Tom doesn't see Mike for the rest of the day. He gets an email from him that afternoon with game specs but there's no message. Whenever Mike comes up with new specs that he knows Tom is going to hate, Mike includes dumb knock-knock jokes or links to Buzzfeed articles. Game specs definitely aren’t as much fun when there aren't any baby animal pictures attached. 

Mike texts him later that evening when Tom's watching an old episode of 'Friday Night Lights'. 

_Hey_ , Mike says.

Tom scowls at his phone but decides to respond to Mike anyways. _S'up_

_What happened with André?_

Tom moans and flops on the couch. Tom hasn't felt like talking about it with anyone especially Mike considering that Mike disapproved of André from the very beginning. He thought André was too young and immature for Tom.

 _Wanted different things_ , Tom says. What he really means is that when Tom brought up living together, André decided it was time to see other people, proving Mike right. 

_This is what you get for dating children_ , Mike chirps.

 _Go fuck yourself._ This is exactly why Tom didn't want to talk about it. 

_Sorry_ , Mike says immediately. After a few seconds, he says _Were you serious about what you said earlier? Getting married?_

 _Fuck yeah I was_. Tom's been thinking about it on and off all day, and he's convinced that they could pull it off. 

Fifteen minutes go by with no response from Mike. _Latts?_

 _I'm thinking_.

Tom doesn't hear from Mike for the rest of the night. 

*

Early the next morning, Tom's staring blankly at his monitor while waiting for his system to boot up when Mike clears his throat softly. 

Tom looks up and blinks at Mike a few times. He says, "Morning."

"Dude, you are the worst morning person I've ever met," Mike says with a smile. 

"Fuck mornings," Tom grumbles. "What's up?"

Mike glances furtively around him. "Can we get lunch today? I want to talk to you some more about the thing."

"Yeah, absolutely," Tom says.

"See you at twelve?" Mike asks.

Tom nods dumbly and waves at Mike as he walks away. 

Mike shows back up promptly at noon as Tom and Brooks are finishing up troubleshooting the layout for the second level of the new game. 

Brooks glances back and forth between the two of them with a suspicious look on his face. He asks, "You kids got lunch plans?" 

"As a matter of fact, yes," Tom answers. He grabs his wallet from his desk drawer and shoos Brooks out of his cubicle. "Ready to go, Mike?"

"This feels like a date," Brooks observes.

"Don't become one of those people who starts looking for romance in everything just because you're engaged," Mike groans.

"Excuse you, romance finds me," Brooks says.

Previous experience has taught Tom that Mike and Brooks are about five seconds away from getting into a slap fight. Tom's too hungry to sit through that.

"Let's go, Mike," Tom says. He starts walking toward the elevator. Mike hisses something at Brooks and then hurries to catch up.

They get into the elevator and Mike pushes the button for the lobby.

"Want to go to the deli down the street?" Mike asks.

"Sounds good." 

They don't speak again until they're at the restaurant. Mike's having a hard time making eye contact so Tom takes pity on him.

"The offer's still open," Tom says. 

Mike sighs and plays with his napkin. He finally says, "You have to admit, it's a crazy idea." 

"Not really. We're already friends so that'll make everything easier. Also, we know everything about each other so there's no way we can fail any of their tests."

"Okay, I'll give you that but how are we going to explain that we've been friends for two years but we didn't start dating until it looked like I was going to leave?" Mike asks.

"You know I had a crush on you when you first started at WC, right? We'll just tell them it took me a long time to wear you down and I kicked it into high gear when I found out about your permit stuff," Tom says.

Mike looks gob smacked. "What? No, you didn't."

"Yeah, I did," Tom says with a laugh. "I flirted with you at the first happy hour you came to but you didn't seem very interested. Then we got assigned to work together and I figured that was that."

"That was flirting? You need to work on your game, bro. I thought you were just really friendly."

Before Tom can defend his game, the waitress brings their food over and it's controlled chaos while they figure out who's getting what. Tom's just bitten into his sandwich when Latts asks another question.

"Willy, you’re not still crushing on me, are you?"

Tom shakes his head as hard as he can while he finishes chewing. As soon as he can talk without spitting food everywhere, Tom says, "That was two years ago, dude! How pathetic do you think I am?" 

That's a tiny lie. Tom's probably always going to have a little crush on Mike but that's just Tom's cross to bear. Tom knows that they're never going to be anything more than friends and he's okay with that. He'd rather have Latts as a friend than no Latts at all. 

"So then why are you asking?" Mike wonders.

Tom puts his sandwich down and leans forward. He's only got one shot to get Mike onboard with this plan. 

"Look," Tom says, "you're my best friend. I don't want you to leave. You love living in Canada. Professionally, you and I are a great team. I think we can make the next big thing. I think we can help this company finally win some awards. It's not fair that you've worked so hard here and you would miss out on all the rewards.

"Besides," Tom adds, "you're pretty easy on the eyes."

"Oh well, if you're looking for a trophy husband, then I'm your guy," Mike says.

He can mock Tom all he wants but the blush on Mike's face gives away what he really thinks of Tom's speech. 

Tom moves in for the kill. "I'm not ready for anything permanent right now, especially after the way things with André went down. I don't want kids or a house in the suburbs. What I want is to work with my bro."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but let's get married," Mike says reluctantly.

"Seriously?!" 

Mike nods and says, "Seriously. I agree with everything you said even though this is still a terrible idea." 

"Nice." Tom picks up his fork but puts it back down again as he thinks of a bigger problem. "Where are we going to live? I'm thinking my place since you're in that gross studio." 

"No argument here," Mike says. "You've only got the one bedroom, though. Are we going to share a bed?"

"I didn't think about that. Do you think CIC is going to do a home visit? If they do, it'll probably look better if we're sharing a room. Maybe we can look for a new place with two bedrooms after we're married?" Tom suggests.

"Yeah, we'll figure something out."

The rest of lunch is spent figuring out the details like when Mike's going to move in (Friday after work), who to tell at work (if they tell Brooks first, he'll tell everyone in the building within an hour), how long they should be married before splitting up (three or so years), and if they should tell their families the real reason behind their engagement (no).

When they're waiting for the bill, Mike laughs and says, "What about sex?"

"What about it?"

"Well," Mike draws out, "three years is a long time to go without it. Are we going to be allowed to cheat?"

Tom scowls. Just because it's a fake marriage doesn't mean that he's not going to respect his vows. Three years is a long time to go without sex but cheating's not something he does. 

"I don't know," Tom replies. "I probably won't but you can make your own choices. Maybe we should just wait until it's an issue and we'll figure it out then."

"I guess that works," Mike says. 

*

Tom's just finished outlining a particularly gnarly section of the game the next afternoon when Ovie pops his head over Tom's cubicle wall. 

"What's this I hear about you getting married? And to an American? Your mother must be heartbroken."

"Not as heartbroken as she would be if I was marrying you," Tom responds.

"Good one," Ovie laughs. He holds up his hand for a high-five and Tom's too much of a gentleman to leave him hanging. They've just finished the obligatory chest bump when Nicklas joins them. 

"Hey, Other Boss," Tom says.

Nicklas smiles and says, "Hello, Tom. Is Alex's gossip correct for once?"

"Always true!" Alex yelps.

Tom shrugs. "Yep. Mike and I are getting hitched."

"Well, congratulations," Nicklas says. "I must admit, it's a bit of surprise especially since we all thought Mike was going to have to move back to the States."

"Would have been so sad," Alex interjects. "Young love torn apart."

Tom chuckles nervously and wishes Mike was here to take some of the heat. "Definitely forced my hand a bit. But it's all good, just sped up what we knew was going to happen eventually."

"That's good," Nicklas says. "I hope you're able to invite us to the wedding. Alex and I do love a good party."

"Uh, yeah," Tom stammers. "We'll probably invite everyone from here. Second family and all that."

Alex taps his watch. "Nicky, time to go. Investors will be here soon."

"Oh yes," Nicklas says. As he walks out of the cubicle, he says, "Tom, if you and Mike could see Braden this afternoon, I'd appreciate it. You were supposed to notify HR when you started dating so he needs to go over some things with you."

"Will do," Tom says.

As soon as they're gone from Tom's sight, he drops into his chair and sighs. He really hates lying which is probably something Tom should have thought of before he suggested getting married. 

He IMs Mike because if anyone will understand his pain, it's his fake fiancé. 

**Just talked to Ovie and Backsy. Hate lying to the dads.**

_**Haha. Sorry. Glad you took one for the team.**_

**Next time it's on you. We need to see Braden this afternoon. Some stuff to do in HR or something.**

_**Ugh. Come by in 20 and we can go over?**_

**Y.**

*

Braden's secretary takes them into his office immediately. Braden's leaning back in his chair staring straight up at the ceiling. They sit down in front of his desk and wait. 

The silence stretches on for at least a minute. Mike opens his mouth but before he can say anything, Braden holds up a hand and says, "No, no. You don't get to talk right now."

Braden takes a deep breath and looks at both of them. "Which one of you is going to explain why you decided to attract the attention of CIC two months before the company goes public?"

"It's CIC, they can't be that big of a deal," Tom says.

"'They can't be that big of a deal,'" Braden mocks. "They're a huge fucking deal, you moron. They're a goddamn government agency that has the power to shut us down. Do you know how much work I'm going to have to do now? Not to mention they're probably going to review T.J.'s paperwork too. 

"Do you really think I have all this free time right now? I'm trying to make sure our HR records are in shape so we can go fucking public in two goddamned months and assure our investors that we're not a bunch of jackoffs who don't know shit about shit," Braden says. He points to the large pile of folders taking up the left side of his desk and continues, "But it turns out at least two of us are jackoffs."

Tom shrinks in his chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mike open his mouth and then close it softly.

Braden throws his stress ball up in the air and catches it. He does it four more times before he speaks again. Calmly he says, "I don't give two shits if you two are together or not. All I care about is that CIC believes that you're together and signs off on your relationship, and Mike gets his work permit."

Tom opens his mouth to protest but Braden silences him with a look. "I don't want to hear about it," Braden says. "Just do what you need to do. Got it?" 

"Got it," Tom mumbles.

"Yes," Mike says.

"Great," Braden says. "Now get the fuck out of my office."

Mike doesn't speak until they're back in the elevator. "He's crazy, right?"

"Yeah," Tom agrees. "Real crazy."

"You don't think this was a mistake, do you?"

Truth be told, Tom's been feeling uneasy ever since his conversation with Ovie and Backsy but backing out now isn't really an option. After lunch yesterday, Mike had seemed much happier and less stressed than he had in weeks. He texted Tom last night to tell him that he had already submitted the new paperwork to CIC.

"No," Tom says, hoping he sounds more confident than he feels. "This is going to work out fine. CIC will sign off on this, the company will go public and make lots of money, and you'll get to stay in Canada."

"I hope you're right," Mike says. "I'll bring my stuff over tonight around eight?"

"Sounds good."

*

Mike knocks on Tom's door exactly at eight. Tom opens the door and says, "Welcome to your new home."

Mike's got a gym bag hanging off each arm and is carrying two boxes. He looks fairly unimpressed with Tom's welcome. "Please get out of the way."

Tom moves aside and waves Mike in. After Mike's dropped his stuff, Tom offers to help with the rest of it and it goes pretty quickly after that. 

After Mike's brought in the last box, he sets it on the stack by the door and looks around the apartment. "This is a nice place, Willy," he says. "Pretty psyched to be here."

"You're just psyched to be living somewhere that has doors and walls," Tom says. 

"Fuck off. Let's see what you've got on the PVR." Before Tom can stop him, Mike's picked up the remote and is flicking through Tom's saved shows. 

After a few seconds of silence, Mike says, "Uh, there's a lot more of those 'Bachelor' shows on here than I remember."

"It's a good show," Tom says defensively. His post-breakup TV viewing is nobody's business but his own. He grabs the remote away from Mike and turns the TV off. "How about a tour?"

He shows Latts the space that he's cleared for him in the bathroom cabinet and then they head into the bedroom. It feels weird to have Latts in his bedroom and to know that they're going to be sharing Tom's king-sized bed for the foreseeable future. The only consolation is that Mike seems just as weirded out. He perks up a little when he sees all the space that Tom has made for him in the closet and the dresser.

As they walk back through the living room, Mike looks at the family pictures that Tom keeps on the top of the entertainment center. He taps the one of Tom and his brothers. "Tell the family yet?" he asks.

"No, I was going to do that this weekend. You?" Tom says.

"Same."

Mike looks at a few more pictures and smiles before he looks at Tom expectantly.

"Ready for the most important room in the apartment?" Tom asks.

"Which is?" Mike says.

"The kitchen, dummy," Tom answers.

The kitchen might be the most important room but it's definitely not the biggest and it's pretty cramped with both of them in it. Tom shifts his weight from foot to foot and tries to avoid brushing up against Mike as Tom opens cabinet doors.

"I don't know how you want to do food. Maybe do it like in university, just write our name on stuff that we don't want the other to eat," Tom says.

"I'm not too picky but it might look weird if we label all our food. Do you do that with André?" Mike says.

"No," Tom admits. "Honestly, I don't care as long as you don't touch my ketchup." He opens up the fridge and points to the top shelf where he keeps his Costco sized bottle.

Mike laughs. "Hang on." He jogs out of the kitchen and rustles through one of his boxes before he comes back into the kitchen. Mike holds up the same exact bottle of ketchup. "Looks like we won't be running out any time soon."

"This is so awesome," Tom says. "Hang on, I've got to get a picture of this."

"This is so ridiculous," Mike says even as he leans into Tom and holds up his bottle of ketchup. 

"Hey, people need to believe that we're engaged."

Tom manages to get a pretty good picture of them leaning into each other and holding up their individual ketchup bottles. He posts it to Facebook and Instagram, and captions the photo with _true love #engagedgoals #bestfiance #meanttobe_

The rest of the night is spent helping Mike unpack. They finally call it quits around one when Mike's clothes are put away and the only thing left is figuring out where to put his books. 

Getting ready for bed is weird. It's not like Tom's never slept with anyone before. He's used to doing his nighttime routine with company. But he's never done it with Mike before and everything feels out-of-sync. 

Tom escapes into the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a deep breath. When he comes back out, Mike has already changed. Turns out that Mike prefers to sleep in pajama pants and pajama pants only which is information that neither Tom nor his dick needed to know. 

"Your turn," Tom chokes out.

"Thanks."

As soon as Mike closes the bathroom door, Tom quickly shucks off his jeans and shirt and puts on his sleep shirt and basketball shorts. He gets into bed and pulls the covers up over his head as he moans.

The bathroom door opens and Mike calls out, "Did you say something?"

"Nope," Tom answers.

He's an idiot, an absolute idiot. How could he have not realized what sharing such close quarters with Mike was going to be like? 

Mike comes out of the bathroom, turns the light off, and climbs into bed. After a few seconds of strained silence, Mike says, "This is a lot weirder than I thought it would be."

"Yeah." Tom's voice sounds breathy and he cringes. Mike's probably going to think that he's panting with excitement or something.

"You're not a spooner, right?" Mike asks.

"Not at all," Tom says. "You definitely don't have to worry about that."

"Oh good."

They lapse back into silence.

"Do you think this is ever going to stop being weird?" Tom asks.

"I hope so," Mike says. "Otherwise the next three years are going to suck."

Tom snorts. He rolls on to his side, facing away from Mike, and gets comfortable. "Night, Latts."

"Night, Willy."

*

By Saturday evening, most of the weirdness is gone. They spend the day figuring out where to put the last of Mike's stuff before making a Loblaws run because Mike claims that it's depressing that two giant bottles of ketchup are the only thing in their fridge. Mike volunteers to cook dinner and then spends twenty minutes picking out the best steaks. Tom sneaks a picture of him and posts it on Twitter with only the chef hat emoji as the caption.

Turns out Latts is a whiz with the grill, and the steak and veggies are perfect. They kill three bottles of wine and spend the evening on the patio, tipsy and laughing at each other. It's the best night Tom's had in a really long time. 

On Sunday morning, they both sleep in but Tom's the first to make it out to the kitchen. He's standing in front of Mike's coffee maker, trying to figure out how it works by pushing random buttons when Mike finally strolls into the kitchen wearing nothing but those stupid pajama pants. 

"Morning," Mike chirps. 

Tom grunts in response. Mike cups Tom's elbow gently and moves him aside. "Okay Grumpy, just stay over here and I'll get the coffee going." 

After Tom's had coffee and breakfast, he feels bad about the way he acted.

"Hey, sorry. I'm terrible in the mornings," Tom says.

"No worries, Grumpy," Mike says. "It was kind of cute in a surly way."

Tom blushes and leaves the kitchen as quickly as he can to avoid embarrassing himself even more. 

*

Their first appointment with CIC is a week later. Tom was envisioning a dark office with old, smelly chairs but the office is the complete opposite of that. There's windows everywhere and everything, including the chairs, looks brand new. 

"Pretty sweet digs," Tom mutters.

Mike elbows him, hard, and says, "Shut up, dude."

Tom winces and shoots a dirty look at Mike. The receptionist is giving them a funny look and Tom thinks that maybe they should look more couple-y. He puts his hand on Mike's thigh and leans back into his chair. Mike starts and then smiles nervously at him.

"Relax," Tom mouths. 

Mike starts flipping through a magazine while Tom tries to not freak out over how good Mike's leg feels. He knew that Mike had pretty muscular legs but it's one thing to see them all the time and another to actually touch them. Before Tom can think too much about what it be like to run his hand up Mike's thigh, someone clears their throat and Tom takes his hand off Mike. He looks up and a small woman is standing in front of them.

"Hello gentlemen. Bonjour. My name is Marie-Claire," she says. She holds out her hand and they shake it. "Why don't we go to my office?"

Once they're settled in her office, Marie-Claire scans the paperwork and flips to the last sheet in their packet. "Gentlemen, your application seems to be in order. However, I'm sure you can understand that I have concerns about your relationship."

Mike coughs softly. "What kind of concerns?"

"No one at your workplace knew you were dating," Marie-Claire says. 

"We were just trying to keep things professional," Mike counters. 

"Especially since everyone at WC is so nosy. I bet you know what that's like working here," Tom jokes.

Marie-Claire look at Tom suspiciously. She says, "Be that as it may, what about the fact that you've only just now moved in together?"

"Well," Mike says, "Once the cat was out of the bag at work, we figured it made sense to finally move in together."

"Hmm," Marie-Claire says noncommittally.

"If we were faking this," Tom says, "would we having an engagement party in two weeks?"

Marie-Claire and Mike look at Tom in surprise.

"What?!" Mike exclaims.

"I'm sorry, babe. I wanted it to be a surprise." Tom quickly tries to think of a reason why he would have hidden this from his fiancé. "My family's coming down for it and I know how worried you are about their approval. I thought if they came to the party, you would see that they're cool with us but I didn't want to freak you out ahead of time."

Tom picks up Mike's hand and holds on to it like it's the only thing that's going to save them. Tom's trying to be chill but he's worried about selling this to Marie-Claire and hoping that Mike will go along with the charade. Mike squeezes Tom's hand.

"Wow, that's kind of sweet," Mike says with a smile.

Then Mike leans over and kisses Tom in front of Marie-Claire. It probably looks authentic to the casual observer but as first kisses go, it's not very good. Tom's got no idea how Mike wants him to play this. Then there's the fact that Mike is kissing Tom and Tom is completely out of chill. 

Tom pulls back abruptly and turns to look at Marie-Claire. 

"See," Tom says, "it's all good."

"Hmmm," Marie-Claire says. "Just a few more questions."

*

"We need more people at this party," Tom says. Their guest list is mostly work people so far. It's cool, Tom loves their coworkers, but they might as well have the party at work. He makes a mental note to text some of his buddies from the rec hockey league later, and to tell his mom to invite all of his cousins. 

His mom was pretty shocked to hear that he got engaged but oddly enough she wasn't surprised to hear it was Latts. Tom refuses to think about what that means. 

"What about T.J.?" Tom asks. "Don't you guys like to stick together?"

Latts squints at him and slowly says, "What exactly do you mean by 'you guys'? I hope you don't mean Americans because for the last time, I'm not American."

"That's not what CIC says," Tom says. He holds up his hand for a high-five but Latts leaves him hanging. 

"Fine, let's invite T.J. and his family," Mike says. "How many people is that?"

"Fifteen." 

Neither Mike's parents nor his brothers can make it to the party so Latts is going to be flying solo. They've all promised to come for the wedding though. Maybe Tom should have his mom send an invite to his second cousins.

Tom looks around the break room before his gaze settles on the new guy sitting in the corner. He just transferred in from western Canada, there's some story there, but Tom hasn't heard anything more than that. He nudges Latts and points to the guy questioningly. Mike's eyes get wide and his head twitches which doesn't actually answer Tom's question. 

"Hey new guy," Tom says.

New guy looks up warily. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah," Tom answers.

"The name's Mike," new guy says.

"Sweet name, bro. His name's Mike too." Tom points to Latts who has gone completely still. He's breathing really hard though. Tom seriously has no idea what his deal is. "Me and Mike are having an engagement party next weekend. You in?"

"Uh, I don't know you," Mike answers.

"Sure but you could know us if you came to our party," Tom says.

Mike thinks about it for a second and then shrugs. "Yeah, all right."

"Sweet," Tom crows. "We'll put you on the email list. Don't bring a gift though. We've already got too much crap."

"No gifts, got it," Mike says.

"Can we call you 'New Mike'?" Tom asks. "I'm just thinking since you're both Mike, we should think of a nickname or something."

"Last name's Richards. Everyone at my old job called me 'Richie'," Mike offers. 

"Richie, eh? I like it," Tom says.

"Cool," Richie says and he goes back to eating his lunch.

Tom looks at Mike and says, "Boom, another person for the party. We're going to rock the shit out of this engagement party."

Mike still doesn't say anything. He pushes his chair back and walks out of the room. Tom hastily follows him into the hallway.

"Do you know who that is?!" Mike hisses.

Tom looks into the breakroom and then looks back at Latts. "Yeah, Mike Richards. He's a new programmer. Were you not listening at all?"

"No! I mean, yeah I was listening, and yeah, that's Mike Richards. He's a legend in game programming. That guy was one of my idols when I first started programming."

"So you're not mad that I invited him?" Tom asks.

"I can't believe Mike Richards is going to be in our house," Mike says in an amazed tone. "Sorry, I'm probably being really weird right now."

In all truthfulness, Tom is incredibly charmed by Mike's fanboying over Richie. Instead of telling Mike that, Tom says, "You are a nut. A nut."

"But I'm your nut," Latts responds. He winks as he says it, totally hamming it up, and Tom can't help but wish that it was true.

*

Tom's parents come down early the day of the party so they can get ready for the party and figure out wedding stuff. Tom's been thinking about an October wedding, maybe Thanksgiving weekend, but every time he mentions it to Mike, Mike gets a weird look on his face and changes the subject. 

The three of them go out to lunch but before they can even discuss wedding details, Tom's mom whips out his baby book. 

"Mom," Tom whines. "Do we have to look at that now?"

"Oh shush," his mom says. "I realized that Michael hasn't seen some of these photos and I didn't want him to miss out on anything. Besides, you might want some of these for the reception." 

"Why would I want anyone to see these pictures?" Tom wonders aloud.

His mom opens her mouth to answer but she's cut off by Latts who's found the picture of Tom holding his bunny and sitting next to Ranger, his dog.

"Oh my god," Mike gasps. "This is the most amazing picture ever. You were such a beaut."

Tom's mom beams at Mike across the table while Tom contemplates 'accidentally' spilling his drink on the book. He takes back every time he ever thought his mom was the best.

Later, when Mike is in the bathroom, Tom's mother leans across the table and says, "I'm so happy that you're happy, Tommy. I wish you had told us that you two were finally dating but I have to admit, I wasn't too surprised. I had a good feeling about the two of you the first time I met Michael." 

Tom swallows the lump in his throat and says, "Thanks, Mom. That means a lot."

"He's so much better for you than André. I know you were hurt that André didn't want to settle down but that boy was too immature for you."

"Calm down," Tom's dad says. 

"I'll just telling the truth. He didn't want the same things as Tom. Mike wants all the things you want, I can tell."

Mike sits back down at the table and says, brightly, "Time to go."

"Everything okay?" Tom asks.

"Yeah, we just need to get going on party stuff," Mike says while avoiding eye contact with Tom and his parents. He doesn't hold Tom's hand as they walk out of the restaurant even though they've been making an effort to appear more touchy-feely in public. Tom's hand feels empty.

They spend the next four hours picking up food and drinks, setting up chairs, and arranging furniture. Mike's still a little standoffish but not so bad that Tom's mom notices anything. Thirty minutes before the party is scheduled to start, Tom's mom shoos them out of the living room. 

"You boys go get ready," she says. "We've got this under control." 

As soon as the door's closed, Tom turns to Mike. "What's going on, Latts?"

"Nothing," Mike says. He looks Tom in the eye when he says it which is an improvement from the last four hours.

"C'mon, you've been acting weird all day."

"I'm sorry," Mike says. "I'm just a little bummed that your family is here and mine isn't."

That's a totally reasonable thing to be upset about, and Tom feels like a total ass for making Latts' mood all about him. He should have realized that Latts would want his family at the party. 

"I'm sorry. Maybe we can go up for a long weekend in September?"

"Maybe," Mike says noncommittally. He strips off his t-shirt and grabs a dress shirt from the closet. As he buttons up the shirt, Mike asks, "Hey, you're still okay with this, right?" 

"Yeah, of course," Tom says as he changes into his dress pants. "Are you?"

"Yeah, it's just –" Mike says. "I'm fine with it."

Tom looks at Mike and cocks his head. "Mike?"

The sound of the doorbell stops Mike from saying whatever he was going to say. 

"Looks like the guests are here," Mike says. He wrenches open the bedroom door and books it down the hallway leaving Tom to stare after him.

T.J. and his family are the first guests followed quickly by Brooks and his fiancée. People start streaming in after that and Tom quickly loses sight of Mike. 

He's standing by the door, making small talk with new Russian co-op student, Evgeny, when the doorbell rings again. Tom answers the door and tries not to freak out when he sees that it's Marie-Claire. 

"Marie-Claire," Tom says. "What are you doing here?"

"This seemed like a good opportunity to see how you interact with each other and talk to your family members. I hope this is all right?" Marie-Claire looks at him expectantly.

"Of course." Tom steps aside as she comes into the apartment and closes the door after her. "Help yourself to food and drinks." 

"Is that a ping pong table?" Marie-Claire asks.

Tom's mom tried to make it look nice for the party but there's only so much you can do to dress up a ping-pong table. 

"Yeah, it is. If Latts tries to tell you that he's better than me, he's totally lying," Tom says.

"Hmmmm," Marie-Claire says.

Tom is really starting to hate her 'hmmmm's.

"I better get that," Tom says as the doorbell rings again. 

"Of course, I'll just mingle," Marie-Claire says. She disappears into the crowd and Tom swallows. He doesn't have his phone on him, otherwise he would let Latts know to stay sharp. 

Tom opens the door still staring after Marie-Claire but snaps his head forward when someone punches his arm. Justin and Richie are standing in the hallway, staring at Tom.

"It was Richie," Justin says as he points to Richie. 

Richie shakes his head resignedly like someone who's been on the receiving end of Justin's dad jokes one too many times.

"Not likely," Tom says. He shakes their hands as they walk through the door. "Thanks for coming. Sorry, our immigration caseworker just showed up and I was looking for Mike to let him know."

"That sucks," Richie says. "I'm going to go get a drink. Justin?"

Justin shakes his head and Richie walks away.

"Not one for small talk, is he?" Tom says.

"If he likes you, he'll warm up to you eventually," Justin says with a shrug. 

"Is there something going on between you two?" Tom asks. "Oh shit JWills, is Richie your sidepiece? What about your wife?" 

Justin shakes his head. "No, dummy. Mike and I used to work together. He got a raw deal there so when he got the job out here, I told him he could live in the apartment above our garage while he figured some stuff out."

"Oh." Tom nods. That seems a lot more reasonable than Richie and Justin having an affair. "Cool. He seems like a good guy."

"He's the best," Justin says fiercely.

"I should probably go mingle some more," Tom says.

"Keep the immigration lady happy," Justin advises. He claps his hand on Tom's shoulder and joins Richie at the drinks table.

Everyone they invited is at the party including Tom's random family members, and the apartment gets loud and stuffy quickly. 

Ovie and Backsy are talking to Evgeny while Braden glowers in the corner. Tom frowns, he doesn't remember inviting Braden. Maybe Latts did. 

Tom's given up on seeing Mike again for the rest of the night when Tom's mom taps a fork against her glass. The guests quiet down and turn toward her.

"I want to thank you all for coming tonight. I hope we'll see you at the wedding if these two ever set a date," she says exasperatedly.

The guests laugh and Tom rolls his eyes.

"I hope you'll all join us in wishing the very best to Tom and Mike. I always knew it would take someone special to make my son happy and I'm so glad it's you, Mike."

Mike, who's been standing at the edge of the crowd, looks startled by her speech. Everyone raises their glass at Tom and Mike before taking a drink.

"Speech," Ovie calls out. "Speech!"

All the guests start chanting "speech" and Tom realizes that one of them needs to say something before there's a minor revolt. Mike's still at the edge of the crowd, looking like he wants to escape to the balcony, so Tom falls on the metaphorical sword.

"Okay, okay," Tom says. He lifts his hands in the air to quiet everyone down before he continues, "Like my mom said, thank you all for coming out and celebrating Mike and I. We're really honored and touched by your support. I promise we'll set a date soon, Mom."

Tom looks around the room before he continues. "Mike and I have been friends for so long that I never imagined we could be anything more. Every day I think about how lucky I am that Mike didn't suffer from my lack of imagination. I'm marrying my best friend and that's pretty awesome."

The crazy thing is that Tom means every word of what he's saying. Fake or not, this is the best relationship that Tom's ever been in. 

"Mike, you want to add anything?" Tom asks.

Mike looks at Tom with a stricken expression on his face. "I can't do this," he says. 

"Okay, you don't have to say anything," Tom says.

"No, I mean I can't marry you."

Tom stares at Mike dumbly while Mike looks at him.

"I'm sorry," Mike says. He pushes back through the crowd and heads toward the door.

"Mike?" Tom calls out. Mike doesn't answer, just slips out through the door.

Tom doesn't register that no one is speaking until his mom comes up to him and puts her hand on his arm. It snaps him back to reality and the echoing silence of the party.

"Sweetie?" his mom asks.

"Hey," Tom says. He wants all these people out of his apartment now but he can't figure out how to kick them out without being rude. "I think – I think maybe the party's over."

"Yeah," his mom agrees gently.

The guests all seem to take the hint and everyone leaves quickly after that. Marie-Claire is one of the last guests to leave.

"Tom, I'm sorry," she says. "I must admit that I had my doubts about the truthfulness of your engagement but those fears were laid to rest tonight."

"It's not like it matters anymore but thank you," Tom responds.

"Hmmm, on the contrary, I'm going to recommend that Tom's application be considered."

Tom looks up at her. "You'd do that?"

"Yes," Marie-Claire answers. Her face is full of pity. Tom hates her so much that he can barely breathe.

"Thank you," Tom chokes out.

An hour or so after everyone's left and Tom's parents have gone to their hotel, Tom gets a text from Mike.

_Can we talk?_

Tom's sprawled on the couch, drinking wine from the bottle and feeling sorry for himself. The absolute last person that he wants to talk to right now is Latts but it's probably better to rip the band-aid off now.

 _You can come back now, everyone's gone_ , Tom says.

Mike's at the door in less than five minutes which makes Tom think that he's been hiding at the Starbucks down the street for the last two hours.

"I owe you an explanation," Mike says as soon as he walks through the door.

Tom doesn't move from the couch. He takes a swig of wine and says, "I'm waiting."

Mike paces around the living room and runs his hands through his hair. He stops and starts a few times before he finally drags an ottoman over and sits down in front of Tom.

"I heard what your mom said at lunch about how André didn't want to settle down. Tom, why didn't you tell me that was why you broke up?" 

"Why would I?" Tom shrugs. "It doesn't change anything between us."

"Yeah it does," Mike says. "You told me that you didn't want all that now. You said you didn't want to think about long-term and kids until much later. That's the only way I've been able to go along with this. I hated lying to everyone but I didn't think I was hurting anyone. Then I find out that I'm going to be stopping you from getting the future that you want." 

"You're such a fucking idiot," Tom says angrily.

"Dude, I just shared a lot of my feelings. Could you not call me an idiot?" Mike snaps.

"What else do you want me to call you?" Tom yells. "What was stopping you from bringing this up at any point before the party tonight? You're not the only one with doubts. We could have figured something out. But no, you had to fucking dump me at our engagement party in front of my family, your immigration officer, and all of our friends!"

"It's a fake engagement!" Mike counters.

"Well, maybe it doesn't have to be!" 

The words are out before Tom can stop them but he finds that he doesn't want to take them back. 

Mike's mouth drops open. "What are you saying? Are you saying you wanted to get married to me? Tom, you said you didn't have feelings for me."

"I didn't," Tom says quietly. 

Mike stays silent.

Tom pushes himself off the couch and heads down the hallway to his bedroom. He's drunk, he's kind of in love with his fake fiancé who just dumped him, and he's probably going to die alone.

"Willy, come back."

Tom keeps walking until he's in the bedroom. Mike can deal with the couch for a night.

Tom wakes up early but stays out in bed for a few hours, playing on his phone and staring at the Toronto skyline until his stomach starts growling so loudly that he can't ignore it. He drags himself out of bed and unlocks the door. 

Tom hasn't heard any noises to indicate that Mike's in the apartment so he's not expecting anything when he walks into the living room. He's brought up short by the spread that Latts' has laid out on the ping-pong table. There's bagels and a couple of different cream cheeses from the place down the street that Tom loves, chocolate cupcakes from Tom's favorite bakery, an iced coffee from Starbucks sitting in an ice bucket, and a bowl of Tom's favorite fruit. Latts is standing next to the table, smiling nervously.

"Did you –" Tom clears his throat, "did you go to all of my favorite breakfast places?"

"Yeah," Latts says. He glances at the table and then looks back at Tom with a horrified expression on his face. "Is it too much? It's too much."

In spite of everything, Tom laughs. "No, dude, it's not too much. Apology accepted."

"I haven't actually apologized for anything yet," Mike says.

"Go ahead." Tom waves his hand encouragingly at Mike.

"You're too nice," Latts says.

"Got to be honest, your apology sucks so far," Tom cracks.

"Seriously though. I did a shitty thing last night and humiliated you. I didn't consider your feelings at any point. I'm sorry for that, I really am." Mike sounds so apologetic that Tom can't stay mad at him

"Thank you," Tom says. 

He grabs a bagel as Mike continues.

"But, uh, more importantly, you said something kind of important and I left you hanging."

Tom stills. He had been really hoping that they could pretend like some of the stuff he said last night could be forgotten. 

"It wasn't fair of me to do that," Mike says. "I shouldn't have let you go to bed thinking that you're the only one who has feelings."

Tom drops the bagel and turns toward Mike. He says, "Don't do this, Latts."

"Why not?"

"I don't need you to pretend to like me to make me feel better. I'll get over you and we'll be fine."

"What if it's not pretending?" Mike asks desperately. "What if I have feelings for you?"

"Do you?" Tom responds.

Mike swallows and looks away then looks back at Tom. Tom knows Mike's expressions almost as well as his own but this is the first time that Tom's seen Mike look so open and unguarded. 

"Yeah," Mike says, his voice cracking. "I do."

"Then okay," Tom says.

"It's that easy?" Mike scoffs.

"No, but it's you." Mike looks doubtful so Tom says, "Come here."

Mike shuffles over until he's standing in front of Tom. Tom reaches out and pulls Mike in close.

"Latts, it's not easy. I've got no clue how we're going to fix everything. I do know that you're worth the work so we'll figure it out." 

Mike leans against him and wraps his arms around Tom's waist. "You're worth it too."

Tom dips his head down and kisses Mike. They haven't kissed since their first time in Marie-Claire's office but thankfully this kiss is less awkward. Mike's mouth is warm and soft against Tom's. Mike gently nips at Tom's bottom lip and Tom takes that as a hint to deepen the kiss. He sweeps his tongue into Mike's mouth and Mike responds in kind. 

Tom pulls away and smiles down at Mike.

"Hey," Mike says dumbly.

"Would it completely ruin the moment if I told you that I was starving?" Tom asks.

Mike laughs. "A little but I'm pretty hungry too."

They're cuddling on the couch, eating bagels and sharing a cupcake, when Mike leans back and stares up at Tom with a questioning look.

"What?"

"What do you want to do about our 'engagement'?" Mike asks.

"Marie-Claire's going to approve your application so I guess we don't need to stay engaged," Tom says. "I really want to date you and I think we're killing living together but I don't think we should get married right now. I don't think it's a good idea."

"Ditto," Mike says.

They sit in a silence for a few seconds until Mike says, "What if we date while we're engaged?"

"Explain."

"We tell everyone that I was having cold feet and I was worried about rushing into things. So we decided to have a long, long engagement."

"Hunh," Tom says noncommittally.

"Let me finish." Mike's so excited that he bounces a little on the sofa. "While everyone thinks that we're just having a long engagement, we actually date each other."

"Are you still going to live here?" Tom says. 

Mike deflates. "I didn't think about that," he says. "I really like it here, Willy. I like sharing my space with you. Would it be weird if we kept living together?"

"Not as weird as the last month has been," Tom says. He's got one last question for Mike. "What if we break up?" 

"Then we tell everyone that we decided to end the engagement," Mike says. "We might not break up though."

"You think so?" Tom asks. 

"I do," Mike replies.

Tom smiles and looks at the ground. He never expected to hear Mike say that he thought him and Tom were the real deal. This is better than anything he ever had with André. Tom's chest tightens and he swallows thickly a few times before he speaks again. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, man," Tom says. "Let's do the engaged-slash-dating thing."

Mike's smile is big and cheesy. He looks like a nut but like Mike said a few weeks ago, he's Tom's nut and Tom wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
